Deputy D.A. benched after being accused of bilking NBA star

Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross

Published
4:00 am PST, Monday, February 17, 2003

DOGTRAILG-C-21MAR02-MN-LI
San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, right, Assistant District Attorney Jim Hammer, second right, Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, and Carlos, B, Sanchez, assistant bureau chief for the San Francisco bureau of criminal investigation, far left, listen as jurors speak to reporters about their deliberations after the jury delivered the verdict in the San Francisco dog mauling trial in Los Angeles Thursday, March 21, 2002. The two San Francisco attorneys, Marjorie Knollerand Robert Noel, were convicted on all five counts including a second-degree murder charge against Knoller. BY LANCE IVERSEN/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE less

DOGTRAILG-C-21MAR02-MN-LI
San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, right, Assistant District Attorney Jim Hammer, second right, Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, and Carlos, B, Sanchez, assistant bureau chief for the San Francisco bureau of criminal investigation, far left, listen as jurors speak to reporters about their deliberations after the jury delivered the verdict in the San Francisco dog mauling trial in Los Angeles Thursday, March 21, 2002. The two San Francisco attorneys, Marjorie Knollerand Robert Noel, were convicted on all five counts including a second-degree murder charge against Knoller. BY LANCE IVERSEN/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE less

A San Francisco deputy district attorney has been put on indefinite leave -- after being accused in a civil suit of bilking an NBA star out of nearly $1 million while working as his lawyer and manager.

The suit alleges that Githaiga Ramsey, the young deputy hired by District Attorney Terence Hallinan and assigned to Juvenile Hall, traded on the respect he enjoyed as a public prosecutor to win the confidence of then-Golden State Warriors forward Jason Caffey.

Ramsey is also accused of selling himself to Caffey in his role as a paid officer and director of Mason Tillman & Associates, a politically connected PR and public policy firm founded by his stepmother.

The firm, which specializes in studying inequities in minority contracting, has had a number of city contracts.

Caffey's attorneys say in papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco that their client, who now plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, agreed to pay Ramsey $60,000 a year -- but eventually came to realize that the deputy D. A. was creating a "personal jackpot of money" by dipping into accounts belonging to Caffey or to Caffey and Ramsey jointly.

Specifically, the lawyers allege that Ramsey:

-- Fleeced at least $916,000 from Caffey's accounts, including more than $20,000 that Ramsey used to pay his personal income taxes, and tens of thousands of dollars that were paid or loaned to his relatives.

-- Defrauded Caffey out of $20,000 in insurance money that Ramsey had collected after a gold Rolex watch was stolen from the athlete's rented home in Atlanta.

-- Bought at discount a $1 million Oakland hills home owned by Caffey -- then, without the player's knowledge, used Caffey's money to make the $262,500 down payment.

Oakland attorney John Burris, who is representing Ramsey, said his client "strenuously disagrees" with all of Caffey's accusations, but declined to go into specifics.

D.A. spokesman Mark MacNamara wouldn't discuss the particulars of Ramsey's moonlighting, since the city has been named as a co-defendant in Caffey's lawsuit.

But MacNamara said employees are allowed to do outside work as long as it doesn't conflict with their jobs.

By the way, this isn't the first case of moonlighting in the D.A.'s ranks.

Just a few months back, we found investigator Paul Weiland -- who doubles as a real estate agent -- spending his lunch hour selling his boss Hallinan's house.

SMOKE SCREEN: There were plenty of howls of protest over the recent federal prosecution of medical marijuana advocate Ed Rosenthal. But from where the cops sit, things aren't always as they appear when it comes to the healthy herb.

The other day, San Francisco police raided a warehouse in the Bayview District that was in the early stages of becoming a major marijuana-growing operation -- complete with 300 plants, drying rooms and fluorescent lamps.

Given District Attorney Terence Hallinan's expressed support for medical marijuana, at first blush the bust looked like it was going bust.

But, as it turned out, the narcs had simultaneously raided the grower's home across the bay in Antioch. There, beneath the bed of the grower's 14-year- old son, they turned up 2 pounds of bagged marijuana worth as much as $6,000, plus $790 in the kid's wallet and a "pay-owe" sheet that apparently documented the boy's drug sales at Deer Valley High School, where he's a freshman.

"This is a classic case . . . where we get accused of being the bad cops for taking away somebody's right to sell medical marijuana," said police Capt. Tim Hettrich. "But obviously, (having kids sell pot) was not the intention of Proposition 215," the state initiative intended to legalize medical marijuana.

No word yet, by the way, on whether Hallinan plans to prosecute -- but Hettrich tells us an arrest warrant for dad is being prepared.

WILLIE WHO?: Linda Zwalsh of San Francisco was watching TV's "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" last Wednesday when the game show's contestant found herself stumped on this question: "Willie Brown is the mayor of which city?"

After squirming in her seat a bit, the contestant finally asked for help from the studio audience. Not a good idea -- 47 percent picked Atlanta.